Instructions (in game)

Max Alt: 12 Kilometers
Cruise Speed: 480 KPH
Max Speed: 950 KPH
Takeoff: 190 KPH
Stall: 190 KPH
AG1: Canopy

Note: Be very slow whilest landing, try to land like a glider. Use brakes careful, only taps, and only at low speeds.

Credits:

TheBababooey for the gunsight

Design

It's a big old fighter. Basically, a Japanese P-47 focusing on intercepting stuff. Has a G4M Betty engine and good armament. I took inspiration from the P-47 for the general size, Yak series of fighters for the canopy, and well, that's about it. Oh, some inspiration from all those navy fighters with the same sort of wing.

Play style

Imma be honest, it's an interceptor that can dog fight not a dog fighter that can intercept. It is not a good turn fighter is not a good energy fighter and the only upside is its high altitude and powerful armament.

This thing can go up to 12 km almost as high as the Spitfires that flew during the Battle of Britain. It's not half bad so it's better to use positioning then use your middling maneuverability and instead aim for boom and zoom. These tactics work well against bombers of course diving on them and firing and shooting them to death but what about fighters. Simple you avoid them and you don't intersect with them at all. You have not a good shot against other planes unless you have some sort of advantage prior, and even then the longer the fight drags on, the more likely you are to lose.

Armament is pretty good you get six type 99-2 mod 20mm cannons, which are quite good against bombers and other sort of high flying targets. It is a double-edged sword as whilst you get many rounds, you with the same time have much much less of a fire rate than anyone would reasonably want. Generally it makes it feel like you have a whole lot of ammo and a very very slow gun because that's what you have.

To summarize you fly up high using your good endurance find targets, you dive on them, you riddle them with holes, you pitch back up and you do the same thing again

Lore

In 1942, a need was felt from the Japanese Army that they needed a new dedicated interceptor designed to hunt down new American super heavy bombers such as the XB-29 and XB-32, which, given the turning tide of the war may enter the front sooner rather than later. Heroinashiba was test with developing a new interceptor using whatever spare parts they could get their hands on. This fighter proved reasonably effective against B-29 raids.

However it shined the brightest during its close collaboration with the Heroinashiba Hi-73 (Allied Reporting Name; Nathan). The Hi-73 forced aircraft that would typically fly low and straight to fly higher up in the altitude meaning that the Hi-71 could engage forcing them down this worked well from 1943 to 1944 against B-24s B-17s and B-25 especially. However the emergence of new bombers broke the symbiosis as only the Hi-71 could engage the B-29, meaning that the Hi-73 was forced to focus on strafing targets, and lower altitude dogfights.

Ok lore over.

I hope you enjoy.